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Saturday, May 3, 2014

Chocolate Peanut Butter Buttercream

When I made these cupcakes a few weeks ago for my friend Mandy's birthday, I decided to spice up my usual chocolate buttercream with a little bit of peanut butter. It made the frosting a Reese's lovers dream.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Buttercream

1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature or slightly cooler

1 cup creamy peanut butter (not natural)

4 ounces milk chocolate

8 ounces semi sweet chocolate

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons boiling water

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup milk

Chop the milk chocolate and semisweet chocolate up and place in a microwave safe bowl. Melt chocolate in microwave, running the microwave in 20 second intervals and stirring the chocolate between each interval until fully melted. Allow to cool slightly. In another small bowl, mix together cocoa powder and boiling water into a thick paste. Set aside. In yet another bowl (Martha Stewart seems to be a big fan of dirtying as many bowls as possible), beat together powdered sugar and butter until smooth. Dump in chocolate paste, beat until combined. Pour in melted chocolate and beat to combine. Add in milk to thin as desired. I found when I let the frosting cool overnight, it became much thicker and I needed to add in more milk before piping.